Because I'm worried about your blood pressure. You sure get worked up/drawing conclusions about stuff with even the slightest of news coming out.

I'll say, try the game yourself. Give it some time and attention. Don't like it, return it.

So, in your world, you can return games if you don't like them?

The point of the thread is to discuss a new game, when very few racing games come out any more. The developers made many claims about the problems that the community identified with the old game. The thread highlighted all the aspects of the new game, now the product is actually out, and we're looking to see if it's actually better.

Otherwise, the only other release in the future is F12011 in the Fall, or Dirt3 this year.

handling is improved and the physics are better but its not a massive leap , a few of the cars still have the wierd body roll/swerve crap going on and dont want to go straight after a corner but alot of the ones ive tried handle fairly well and are enjoyable to drive.

its certainly not a sim and if you didnt like shift1 you probably wont like shift 2.

the very first car you drive feels horrible and is probably why alot of people are saying the games crap it takes awhile to get to the cars that feel good, a few of the early cars are great like the e30, supra ,subaru etc but a fair few of them arent much fun.

ive only finished about 28% of careeer mode and only have 500-600k so i havent tried out any of the really fast cars or the GT cars yet they probably feel nothing like the cars im using now.

the defauly settings for a wheel are utter crap though and you need to tweak a bit some of the racing sim forums have some good base settings for alot of the more popular wheels which make the game feel alot more responsive.

the physics are definetly a big step forward so im convinced someone will turn the game into almost a proper sim

Is there a sim-like mode? one reviewer makes reference to this.

Pitstops? Tyre wear? track degradation?

I actually like the driving physics of Shift -especially the track bumps. The big problem was the AI that would try and knock you out if you even pulled alongside.

I actually like the driving physics of Shift -especially the track bumps. The big problem was the AI that would try and knock you out if you even pulled alongside.

no pitstops , tyre wear is in but adjusted to the race lengh, tracks degradation as in rubber marbles/leaves etc apear and get blown about off the racing line as cars fly past.

the AI isnt anywhere near as agressive and you can tell they are very aware of other cars around them as they will take a different line around a corner if your next to one rather than ram you off and they will brake slightly earlirer if your infront of them.

you can however still get knocked off the track as the ai cars do make mistakes you will see them crash , go flying off the road spinning in all dirtections, you will come back around lap aftert lap and the ai wreck will still be sat where it landed even if thats on the middle of the track in a chicane.

my car resets from any huge crash and carries the visible damage still, but i think i only have visual damage on maybe with full damnage the race is over i dont know.

to me the game is great much better than shift was but its not what some people would like from a racing game and the earlier cars arent much fun apart from the odd retro car that stands out as they did back in their day.

som cars like the very first one are horrible i dont understand why your first lap is in the worst feeling car in existance, it the GTR you use in the first race feels like someone has filled it up with water and the movement of the water slapping the sides makes the car want to wobble all over plain horrible...

im 30% in now and every car ive bought recently has felt good so maybe only some of the earlier cars are crap, most the ones you expect to handle well seem to

I disagree with almost all the games site reviewers -this version is massively improved. The graphics are stunning, different render engine, much higher detail and realism than GT5. You can actually see the track get dirty over time and the racing line is slippery on the marbles, you can even hear the marbles hitting the fenders when you run over them.I swear they spent >30 hours modelling the asses of the pit girls. Unlike GT5 with it's surreal lighting and abandoned apocalyptic tracks, you get the impression of a real race. Tracks are bumpy, with elevation changes and actual track widths. There is dynamic lighting at dusk and night racing is visually accurate. The sun will blind you at times, but that's real.The AI is the best I've ever seen in a game. They will out-brake you, in elite handling mode, the game is very hard to beat with 16 cars on track, but very satisfying to even finish 6th.The AI will make mistakes.

Gone is the a-hole AI. If you get bumped, it's because you braked way too soon. Bumping and pushing physics are spot on, you can't bump a car in front without repercussions.They greatly improved the interface and cleaned it all up.Things I really like:

Elite mode physics: you NEED a wheel and pedals for this, but even with the controller, the brakes are modulatable to impending lockup, and you can feather the throttle effectively. Weight transfer physics on braking and elevation changes are spot-on.

EA customer loyalty -unlocks cars and cash.

Crash physics, damage and track damage.

You can race up to 99 laps.

All cars can be modified to full race mode, fully detailed cockpits on all cars, cockpits are also modifiable.

The sound has at least 4-6 levels of complexity in 5.1 Dolby. You can hear engine, tranny, braking, bumps, tires, surrounding sounds and other cars with directionality (i.e. you know which side a car is on behind you). In pushes or hits, no canned bongo drum sound.

For $15 through the PS Store, you can skip all the unlocking and just unlock all tracks and cars. FINALLY this is an option in a console racer. No tedious bullsh*t hours of driving a VW van around an airfield. ( although career progress is really fast, I doubt I'll do this).

Mirrors are useful -full rendering in mirrors.

In quick race mode, when you pick identical cars, they actually have the identical upgrades to match your car. So, you can't purchase a win.

If you upgrade and don't like it, you can recover the money. the game is about the racing, not the stupid unlocking.

You can upload replays to YouTube (some people like this).

No NASCAR -if you want that crap, there is a whole other game for that.

No like: speed blur gimmick and helmet cam -you should be able to turn these off.If the rear end drifts and you compensate with the wheel, you heads shakes to follow the wheel. No.

No real race formats. No dynamic weather. I'm not sure about the tyre wear yet.

Cut scene movies are just sensationalist crap for kids.

Radio: guy yelling "green light, that means go". Really?

Drift mode -for crissakes, just someone make a drifting game. Drifting is figure skating in a car.

I wish they would model Watkin's Glen, Mont Tremblant, Sebring and Mosport -these are still active sports car tracks.

So far, I haven't found a single bug (hello CODEMASTERS). The on-line and Autolog feature is seamless and the game is very well finished and polished. It's very easy to navigate the menus.I can and will avoid the drifting.

I can see the sim community scheduling on-line races in elite mode. It's obvious that EA actually listened to the complaints about Shift and fixed them.

I will likely buy the expansion pack. I'd love to try the Alfa GTA 1600. It's the closest thing to simulation physics and actual racing on console. But, it's not Simbin's GTR.

It's badly optimized for PC. And it seems the devs forgot to add bump mapping, the graphics are horrible compared to GT5 or even Forza 3. The only upside so far are the mods, especially the handling tweak. Well, I'm going to stay with GTR Evo on PC.

It's badly optimized for PC. And it seems the devs forgot to add bump mapping, the graphics are horrible compared to GT5 or even Forza 3. The only upside so far are the mods, especially the handling tweak. Well, I'm going to stay with GTR Evo on PC.

it runs great for me on a 460 1gb card and they only cost about 110 quid now days its pretty much a low end card now look at my screenshots im pulling 60fps with 4xaa...

if you run xfire i heard its bugged and causes the game to only use 50% gpu.

as for bump mapping the game has it just not overly done , its tesselation your probably talking about which is like bump mapping on steroids.

look at some of the walls around the edges of the circuit i cant remember where it was but one of the the white walls has a rough concrete finish and you can clearly tell its bump mapped, the tarmac isnt completly smooth and flat either but it depends on what time of day your racing on look at some of the night races on the replays

Bought a focus st to start with - figured it'd be good for a real world comparison since I used to own one.
In the game, in standard form, and unlike the real thing, it spits flames out the exhaust, kicks the back out at every opportunity [like a drift car obviously], and sounds stupid.

Already that drift fool is annoying the hell out of me.

The skyline too seems to only be interested in drifting?

Even at it's highest setting, the steering is nowhere near sensitive enough when using a controller.

And why the hell does what looks like spit, keep appearing on the screen during races??????

It's badly optimized for PC. And it seems the devs forgot to add bump mapping, the graphics are horrible compared to GT5 or even Forza 3. The only upside so far are the mods, especially the handling tweak. Well, I'm going to stay with GTR Evo on PC.

When you say it's badly optimized, what do you mean?

Running everything at max @1920x1200 and v-sync on. Looks good, but I'm not sold on the game yet to be honest. Just seems more arcadish then dare I say it, F12010.

Bought a focus st to start with - figured it'd be good for a real world comparison since I used to own one.In the game, in standard form, and unlike the real thing, it spits flames out the exhaust, kicks the back out at every opportunity [like a drift car obviously], and sounds stupid.

Already that drift fool is annoying the hell out of me.

The skyline too seems to only be interested in drifting?

Even at it's highest setting, the steering is nowhere near sensitive enough when using a controller.

And why the hell does what looks like spit, keep appearing on the screen during races??????

Not impressed......

make a custom setup for the car under tuning and change the max steering angle from rhe deafult 20 which is uber low and move the suspen stiffness to halfway.

Bought a focus st to start with - figured it'd be good for a real world comparison since I used to own one.In the game, in standard form, and unlike the real thing, it spits flames out the exhaust, kicks the back out at every opportunity [like a drift car obviously], and sounds stupid.

Already that drift fool is annoying the hell out of me.

The skyline too seems to only be interested in drifting?

Even at it's highest setting, the steering is nowhere near sensitive enough when using a controller.

And why the hell does what looks like spit, keep appearing on the screen during races??????

Not impressed......

You only see the cut scene vids once.I have no idea what you 're on about. If you have the handling mode on elite, you can't just keep the throttle on or the rear end will spin the tires.